HAITI

• What day was the earthquake?

  14th August 2021
• What was the magnitude of the earthquake

  7.2
• What type of plate boundary did the Earthquake take place at?

  conservative plate boundary
• Primary Effects:


  - More than 2,000 people died

  - least 12,000 were injured.

  - Hospitals, schools and homes were destroyed.
• Secondary Effects:


  - 332 people were still missing five days after the earthquake.

  - Hundreds of landslides took place, which destroyed local ecosystems and habitats.

  - Heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Grace turned the landslides into mud and led to widespread flooding.
• Responses - short term:

  - The United Nations and charities, such as the Red Cross and sent aid. However, the delivery of essential supplies was hampered by heavy rains from Tropical Storm Grace.

  - Temporary shelters were provided by the International Organization for Migration. These helped people who had lost their homes.

  - The World Food Programme increased their provision of hot meals for school children. This helped to deal with food shortages.

  - Temporary hospitals were constructed to help the injured.

  - The estimated cost of damages from the earthquake is around US$1.6 billion.
• How do people prepare for earthquakes?

  Earthquake drills

  Earthquake kits

  Build defences (eg. Sea walls)

  Earthquake proof buildings

  Have an evacuation plan in place
• How can buildings be adapted to cope with earthquakes?

  Rubber shock absorbers fitted to absorb earth tremors
• The Caribbean nation of Haiti was devastated by a magnitude 7 earthquake

  12th of January 2010
• Haiti


  • Lies on the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates
  • The 2010 earthquake occurred on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault
  • The fault is a conservative plate margin, which means the plates move alongside each other
  • The fault had been locked in tension for 250 years and all this energy being released caused a massive earthquake
• The earthquake occurred


  1. 53 p.m. local time
• Primary impacts


  • 30,000 commercial buildings collapsing
  • Over 230,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries
  • Over 100,000 houses were destroyed
  • Many hospitals were destroyed
  • The Presidential Palace and the main port were also destroyed
• Secondary impacts


  • Over 2 million people being left homeless and without food or water
  • An increase in crime, with many shops being looted
• Immediate responses


  1. 2.6 million bottles of water being donated by the United States

  2. Temporary hospitals were set up by the Red Cross

  3. 500 UN troops and police were sent to help distribute aid and keep order, such as preventing looting of shops
• Long-term responses


  1. The International Monetary Fund approved $102 million USD in assistance for rebuilding

  2. 98% of the rubble was still unclear after six months

  3. A year later there were still 1,300 camps housing 1.6 million people
• With Haiti being a low-income country, it was not very well prepared
• There were very few earthquake resistant buildings, with many buildings and other structures being poorly built
• There were also very few resources to rescue or help injured people, meaning it had to heavily rely on foreign aid